Daquan Holmes is officially a record holder for the AIC football team.

The defensive back from Troy, New York is now the leader in career interceptions for AIC. He broke the record last month, on October 31 on Senior Day in a game against Merrimack. Holmes reeled in his 15th career interception, surpassing Bob Parker.

Holmes said the moment was exciting, but not perfect.

“It’s bittersweet, I’m not going to lie,” said the senior accounting major.

“If I could give it back for a winning season I would do it in a heartbeat. But it’s definitely a hump off my back,” Holmes added.

This will be the first time in Holmes’ career of sports play that his team will be under .500 and the first time since being at AIC that he will not be playing in the championship game.

Looking back on Holmes decorated career, he reflected back on his first campus career interception a few years back.

“My first career interception was a pick-six against Pace,” he said.

With Holmes’ response on his first interception, he flashed a smile that lit up the room. Who would think two seasons and 14 interceptions later he would be the top dog in the AIC defensive leaderboards who notoriously has great defensive players cycling in and out of the program? With Holmes’ interception against Merrimack that patched up a hole in his historical career as a Yellow Jacket – he has now had an interception against every team in the conference.

It’s a record to be proud of, for sure.

Holmes says his goals for the rest of the season is to win out.

“My next goal is to break the NE-10 record for interceptions which is 19, and to be able to guide a young core of defense backs coming in next season, looking to replace Mike [Ford] and Malik [Cooper]. The only guys in the secondary with experience will to be Lorenzo [Melchiorre] and myself,” Holmes said.

Enough of Holmes speaking – the one who was probably more excited than Daquan on that Halloween day was his girlfriend, Paige Preston.

It’s no secret that Preston is Holmes’ number one cheerleader in the stands on Saturday afternoons. Calling her happy about the new record would be an understatement.

“I was very proud and excited for Day, I knew he would get it and it was just a matter of when,” Preston said.

Preston has not missed a game yet this season and doesn’t plan to for the rest of this year or the next.

She said she is excited to see what’s in store for the rest of Holmes’ career and believes he will break the NE-10 record one day. Outside of football, Preston said, “Daquan is the goofiest, playful, but caring person I know who is very passive compared to the football field.”

Kristofer Kulzer, assistant head coach and the reason why Daquan is at AIC, said Daquan is a very intelligent football player.

“This allows him to be at the right place at the right time,” Kulzer said. “He realized very early in his playing career how important film study is, which allows him to make the big plays.”

Kulzer from from Holmes’ hometown and recruited his friend to AIC because of their friendship, and the important fact that Holmes has such a knack for the ball. Indeed, Holmes is very intelligent, as he was also a part of many 3.0 Club ceremonies since coming to AIC.

Some would think with all the success it is very easy to get selfish and forget about the team.

But not Holmes – despite his historical season and the woes the Yellow Jackets have had this season, all he talks about and preaches in practice is sticking together and finding a way to win.

It is safe to say he is a fierce competitor and still has another season to continue to shatter records and harass offensive coordinators.